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RABBAN ŠĀPUR

RABBAN ŠĀPUR, East Syrian monk (7th century CE).

The main source concerning Rabban Šāpur is the Chronicle of Seert (LIV, Scher, 1919, II/2, pp. 459 [139]-461 [141]; see Chabot, 1896, p. 30, no. 55; Gismondi, 1897, p. 57-58). We learn the name of Šāpur’s village in Beth Huzāye (see AHWAZ i. HISTORY) was Ad-Dolāb. After completing his studies, he became a teacher in the school at Dayr-Mihraq; then he went to Šuštar (see KARUN RIVER i) with seven companions. During a pilgrimage—probably to Egypt or Ṭur ʿAbdin (see NISIBIS)—he stopped off at Kaškar at the monastery of Rabban Ḥaïa, a famous monk and disciple of Mār Abraham of Izla; there, he was given the rule of the Great monastery (Scher, 1919, II/2, p. 453 [133]), and he decided to establish his own convent back in Ḵuzestān, in the mountains of Šuštar. He evangelized the pagan populations designated as al-Akrād (on this term, see ʿAŠĀYER) in the surrounding areas (Scher, 1919, II/2, pp. 460 [140]-461 [141]).

According to ʿAmr Ibn Mattaï (14th century), John Bar Martha, and Isaac, bishop-to-be of Karkā-d-Ledān, were his first disciples (Gismondi, 1897, pp. 57-58; Scher, 1919, II/2, p. 460 [140]). Others, sometimes well-known, can be mentioned: Rabban Xvadāhoy, who was the superior of the great convent of Beth Ḥāle (Chabot, 1896, p. 45, no. 78; Scher, 1919, II/2, p. 590 [270]); Malkišoʿ, who built the New monastery near Beth Lapaṭ (Scher 1919, II/2, p. 634 [314]; Chabot, 1896, p. 52, no. 98; Gismondi, 1897, p. 55; Braun, 1914-1915, pp. 75-76; see Fiey, 1969, p. 248); Rabban Makkiha, the founder of the convent of Beth Nišar near Kaškar (Chabot, 1896, p. 42, no. 73; p. 51, no. 95; p. 53, no. 100; Scher, 1919, II/2, p. 599 [279]; Scher, 1919, II/2, p. 599 [279]). Rabban Šāpur’s fondation has to be distinguished from a homonymous one, situated in ʿĀqula on the west bank of the Euphrates (Kufa, south of Baghdad, Nau, 1909, p. 78). We learn from the The Book of the Founders that it was built on the remains of an ancient temple of idols, near the town of Šuštar (Chabot, 1896, p. 35, no. 55). J. M. Fiey identifies the place with Dayr Ḥamim mentioned in the Arab sources (Fiey, 1969, p. 247, n. 126).

The monastery of Rabban-Šāpur was a masterpiece among the monastic establishments reformed in accordance with Abraham of Kaškar’s (d. 588) rules and had a noteworthy influence in the Persian Gulf, Fārs, and Beth Huzāye during the 7th century. It played an important role in the settlement of East Syrian monasteries in these areas. Very famous monks from Beth Qaṭrāye sojourned or were trained there: Dādišoʿ Qaṭrāya (second half of the 7th century), Rabban Bar Sahde (ca. 735); when the bishop of Nineveh and mystical author Isaac the Syrian (ca. 640-700) resigned from his episcopal functions, he went to Rabban-Šāpur, where he eventually died.

This convent was also a Christian center of resistance in southern Iran during the crisis which occurred in the Gulf territories during the Arab conquest; when the number of apostasies and renunciations increased among Christians, East Syrian monks were very valuable supporters of Išoʿyahb III’s patriarchate policy (649-659) of unity: the monks acted as a relay of the catholicosal authority so as to extend the hierarchical power in provinces where it was contested, as in Fārs and Beth Qaṭrāyē (Fiey, 1969, pp. 305-33; 1970, pp. 5-46; Jullien, 2006, pp. 345-46). The encounters of the catholicos with Rabban Šāpur (Scher, 1919, II/2, p. 460 [140]; Jullien, 2006, pp. 345-46) at this time might be indicative of their making common cause in sustaining the faith of church members.